The TTO kings

This morning, in my Currently HIstoric column, a commenter wondered who had the TTO (as in Three True Outcomes—homers, walks and strikeouts record (Adam Dunn is currently on pace to finish with 424).

I gave the information I had on hand, but I hadn’t finished looking into it, and I was sure I was missing something. Time for some methodical research. What you will see below is a list of the top 20 TTO seasons ever. I am reasonably certain this is correct, though I may have missed one or two.

You’ll notice that several players appear multiple times, with Dunn dominating the list. He has six of the top 20 seasons right now, and will make that seven before the year is over. Also, if he stays on his current pace, he will have moved the TTO game to a new level.

Also of interest, though these numbers are mostly the product of the modern era, Mike Schmidt does slide in at number 19 with his 1975 season. He also has another season with 316 TTOs. Babe Ruth also has a season over 300, so these kinds of seasons weren’t unheard of before the late 1990s, but they were much rarer. This is mostly due to the baseball-wide increase in strikeouts (in Ruth’s on

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However, he needed his career high in BB and SO to do it, plus being one of only three times getting 40+ HR. I’d wager there are a few more TTO career year guys who also would crack the top 20.

Historically, some random poking around found a Reggie Jackson (‘69) and Harmon Killebrew (‘62) managing 300+ TTO seasons, and give ‘em 8 more games (154 v. 162 game schedule) they might have sneaked into the top 20.

You mentioned that strikeouts are the main cause for modern-era TTO domination. That’s certainly part of it, but also a factor is the rise in HR totals during the same time period.

Bonds pulled an absurd 120 intentional walks in ‘04, somewhat skewing those numbers. He holds the top three spots by a long shot, but most of the rest of the IBB leaders are fairly recent, with a handful of exceptions.